attenuators

robdynamite

two questions:

are they worth it? 

and i have a jcm 800 2204 and i'd like to maintain that cranked amp fury at a volume that isn't ear destroying, is this the thing i should be look to?

HHwarner

Yes but depends on what you are after. I used one on my 2204 & use it still on my 2203. People will tell you you dont need it on MV amps but to get the best out of those amps you need to crank em a bit and as you know they are bloody loud. Very useful addition for keeping the sound guy happy at gigs or smaller gigs. Dont expect great cranked tone at bedroom levels though. Great to take a few db's off when the need arises but not so good for bedroom levels. For the JCM 800 I would recomend the Marshall Powerbreak if you can find one. I tried a THD Hotplate on my 2204 and that didnt sound as good as the PB. You can go as much as -12DB without effecting tone too much with the PB. Any more than that and it all starts to sound thin.

ICBM

Yes they are worth it. In my opinion they actually work better on MV amps than non-MV ones, because you can use *both* controls to find the sweet spot, and it's usually possible to get a better tone at lower volume than with either alone. The trick is not to crank the MV right up, but just get it to the point it starts to open up a bit. It's also better to set the rough volume first with the attenuator and dial the amp in to sound good like that, rather than cranking the amp up to get a great tone and then turning the attenuator down and wondering where your tone went.

The Marshall Powerbrake is definitely the best for these amps. They're discontinued but not too rare. I've found I can get a decent sound with a MV Marshall with the Powerbrake quite a long way down - as low as -18dB (the settings are not labeled, but they're steps of 3dB and -18 is the one just below halfway) or even lower. Not as good as cranking the amp with no reduction, no... but nothing is.

Sassafras

I once borrowed a Dr Z (not the lite) attenuator and that worked rather well,although I haven't tried it on a Marshall but I can't imagine it wouldn't work just as well.

ICBM

They're pretty good on Marshalls, but not as good as the Powerbrake. But the DrZ Airbrake works better on AC30s than anything else I've tried.

The Hotplate isn't good on Marshalls - which I think is one of the reasons attenuators got a bad name (aside from people trying to use them to get bedroom volume out of huge non-MV amps), since it was one of the first and most popular - but is very good on most Fenders and Mesas.

It's to do with the impedance curve of the attenuator, ie how its "resistance" changes with frequency compared to a fixed resistance, and how inductive it is which affects the flyback voltage the amp sees and which changes the dynamics of it. Different amp power stage designs respond to these things in different ways. How closely the attenuator mimics a real speaker - which is sometimes claimed by attenuator manufacturers as something theirs does better than others - doesn't actually seem to be that important, in fact the DRZ is purely resistive so on that theory it shouldn't sound good... but it does.

Power rating matters too, I wouldn't use an Airbrake on a 100W Marshall, although it should be OK on a 50.

robdynamite

great stuff, thanks very much guys!

stickyfiddle

What they said. It won't get you trouser-flapping tone at bedroom levels, but it'll get you from trouser-flapping to still-bloody-loud, and work brilliantly for getting stage volume down a bit while keeping the amp in the sweet spot.

Marktigere1

Hi

I recently took delivery of the Jetcity Jettenuator.

Firstly I did the classic of giving the amp the full beans and was somewhat underwhelmed by the sound.  This was with a Blackheart BH15h and a JCA22h.

When I turned the MV down and balanced the drive on both amps I hit the sweet spot and lordy they sound nice.

I have in the last couple of days recorded some sounds for an upcoming project using the line out (no speaker simulation).  In the DAW I added a speaker sim and the results are very good indeed.  No noise and a good tube smoothness.  Added a delay within the DAW and I am really pleased with the tone.  Can sound quite bright without the speaker sim though.

I hope to get an XLR cable sorted soon so I can use the Micsim output from the attenuator.  Hopefully with continued good results.

I think it has been an excellent investment as my amps can sit on the recording table with no speaker attached and deliver the sound I want at headphone/recording level.

Great bit of kit.

ThePrettyDamned

This is very good news indeed.